| Administrative History | Mary, the wife of Peter Davenport Finney II, was the daughter of a Chester stone-mason named Lloyd Williams. Her husband was the son of Samuel Tate, nephew and heir to Samuel Finney III and Peter Davenport Finney I, who changed his name to Finney by royal license, but died before his uncles in 1795. Peter Davenport Finney II died in 1824 at the age of 28, leaving his widow and an infant son. In 1825 a case was heard in the Assizes at Lancaster to establish that Mary Davenport Finney's marriage was legal and her son legitimate. Two children, who had died were born before she and Peter Davenport Finney II went through a form of marriage at Greenock in 1821. The court declared the marriage legal and her son, Peter Davenport Finney III the heir to the Fulshaw estate. Mary Davenport Finney died in 1827. |